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### Tales of Knights and Castles

Continuing our journey into the *passato remoto* (historic past), we will now look at how to conjugate regular *-ere* and *-ire* verbs. This tense is perfect for recounting historical events, like stories of battles and knights.

To form the third-person singular ("he/she/it") for regular *-ire* verbs, drop the infinitive ending and add **-ì**. As with *-are* verbs, the written accent mark tells you to stress the final vowel.

{{item:817236}}

For regular *-ere* verbs, the third-person singular ending is **-ette** (though you may also occasionally see an alternative *-é* ending). Drop the infinitive ending and add **-ette**.

{{item:817238}}

### The Plural Forms

When describing the actions of entire armies or groups, you will need the third-person plural ("they") form.

To create this form for regular *-ire* verbs in the historic past, drop the infinitive ending and add **-irono**.

For regular *-ere* verbs, drop the ending and add **-ettero**.

Notice how both endings appear in the following sentence:

{{item:817241}}

Here is another example showing the *-ire* plural form in action:

{{item:817245}}

Historic past of -ere and -ire verbs

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
the knight	il cavaliere
the sword	la spada
The knight was cleaning the metal sword.	Il cavaliere stava pulendo la spada di metallo.
the enemy	il nemico
to strike	colpire
the gate	il cancello
The enemy struck the wooden gate.	Il nemico colpì il cancello di legno.
to yield	cedere
The gate yielded.	Il cancello cedette.
The soldier struck the knight with the sword.	Il soldato colpì il cavaliere con la spada.
to flee	fuggire
The enemies yielded and fled.	I nemici cedettero e fuggirono.
to betray	tradire
the battle	la battaglia
The friend betrayed the knight in the battle.	L'amico tradì il cavaliere nella battaglia.
They betrayed the king and fled after the battle.	Tradirono il re e fuggirono dopo la battaglia.
to wound	ferire
The enemies wounded the horse.	I nemici ferirono il cavallo.
The soldiers wounded the enemy at the gate.	I soldati ferirono il nemico al cancello.
The knights fled from the castle.	I cavalieri fuggirono dal castello.